Needle guard



J. E. CHALMAN;

NEiDLE GUARD.

APPLICATION man SEPT, 21. l9!8.

1 $133,872. Patented Oct. 31, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET I- J. E. CHALMAN.

' NEEDLE GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT 2?, 1913.

1,433,872. Patented Oct. 31, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Patented Get. 31, 1922.

Uldlifiillh JOHN E. CHALDEAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS are a W re y n eazrairritate ASSIGNOR T0 UNION SPECIAL MACHINE NEEDLE GUARD.

Application filed September 27, 1918. Serial No. 255,916.

To all whom it mmy concern Be it known that 1, JOHN E. CHALMAN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Needle Guards, of which the following is a description,reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the figures ofreference marked thereon. l

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in needle guardsfor sewing machines, and more particularly to a needle guard for asingle thread chain stitch sewing machine, wherein the looper moves in aplane parallel to the line of feed.

Prior to my invention needle guards have been associated with loopers ofthe above character for guiding the point of the needle so as to insurethe looper entering the needle thread loop. These needle guards havebeen located beneath the looper. The needle is often deflected by reasonof a cross seam or the like, or by the pull on the thread by the feedingof the fabric, forcing the needle to one side of its normal path oftravel and when the needle guards are well beneath the looper, thedeflection of the needle becomes so great at the point where the needleguards cooperate with the needle that the needle is apt to strike theright-hand needle guard, as viewed from the front of the machine, orpass entirely to the right thereof.

An object of the present invention is to provide a needle guard which islocated at one side of the looper and on the opposite side of the needletherefrom, and which serves with the looper to properly position theneedle so that the point, of the needle maybe caused to pass withcertainty between the needle guards which are beneath the looper.

In the drawings which show by way of illustration one embodiment of theinvention-- Figure 1 is a front view of a sewing ma chine having myimprovement-s embodied therein, the cloth plate being indicated only bybroken lines;

Figure 2 is a view partly in section and partly in end elevation,showing the essential parts of the machine;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the needle, the looper and a portionof the looper supporting shaft, with the looper fully retracted andabout to move forward to enter the needle thread loop;

Figure 4: is a side view of the needle guard, the looper carrier and theneedle, showing in full lines the position of the parts as the needlepasses beneath the upper face of the needle guard, and in dotted linesthe full lower position of the needle; I

Figure 5 is a plan view, showing the looper, the needle guard adjacentthe looper and the needle guards beneath the looper;

Figure 6 is a front view, showing the needle, the looper carrier and thelower needle guard carried thereby also the looper and associated guardin section.

Prior to my invention it has been the practice to provide spaced needleguards located beneath the looper in a single thread chain stitchmachine, wherein the looper is disposed so as to move in a planeparallel with the line of feed. These spaced needle guards have beenformed by a saw cut in the material and the material forming the needleguards left untempered as the tempering of the material is liable tospring the guards away from or toward one another. These guards arepositioned beneath the looper and cooperate with the point of the needleonly. If the needle is deflected to any great extent it will strike theneedle guard at the right of the looper, as viewed from the front of themachine, which would injure the needle guard or the needle, or possiblythe needle might pass entirely outside of said needle guard.

The present invention is particularly directed to a needle guard. whichis so associated with the looper as to cooperate with the looper inpositioning the needle if the same is deflected to any great extent outof its normal position and insure the point of the needle passingbetween the needle guards located beneath the looper. The invention willbe better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, whichshow one embodiment of the invention. In these drawings, 1 have shown asewing ma chine having a supporting bed 1, carrying an overhanging arm2, in which a needle bar 3 reciprocates carrying a needle 4. The

work support is indicated in broken lines at 5. The material is held onthe work support by a presser foot 6, carried by a presser bar 7. Thematerial is fed across the work support by a feed dog 8, carried by feedbar 10, which is operated from suitable con- HGCJlOHS with the mainshaft 11, Mounted on short shaft 12, parallel with the main 11, is alooper carrier 13. Mounted on this looper carrier 13 is a looper 1a. Thelooper .l-fl: is carried by a looper shank 15 fitting in socket on thelooper carrier 13 and this shank is held in the looper carrier by a setsc ew 16. The looper carrier is clamped on the shaft 12 by a screw 17.The shaft 12 is oscillated by suitable connections, indicated at 18,from the main shaft 11.

These parts are all of the usual construction and a further detaildescription thereof is not thought necessary.

The looper carrier is formed with a projecting portion 19, which has asaw cut 20 formed therein, and this saw out "forms from the projection19 two spaced needle guards 21 and A screw 23, passing through theneedle guards, may serve as a means for drawin the two guards 21 and 22closer together and thus narrowing the space between the needle guards.The left-hand guard 22, as viewed in Figure (5, is directly underneaththe body of the looper 14L. After this looper carrier has been cut toform the needle guards, if these parts be tempered, it is liable to drawthem toward each other or out of proper position, so that they are notsuitable for guarding the needle. It is prei .erable, therefore, toleave the metal from which the needle guards are formed untempered. Inorder to insure that the needle point may pass into the space betweenthe needle guards 21 and 22 and not strike either guard, I have provideda hardened needle guard 24, which is located directly opposite theloop-er 14 and on the opposite side of the needle a from the looper.This needle guard 24 is secured by a suit-able screw 25 to the shank ofthe looper. The needle guard is spaced from thelooper. The needle on itsdescent passes between the looper and the needle guard at a point wellback from the point of the looper and the free end of the needle guard.In Figure 1- of the drawin s, 1 have shown in full. lines the needlepoint just as itpasses into the space between the looper and the needleguard, The looper on the one side will pr-vent the needle from beingdeflected to the left, while the: needle guard on the other side willprevent the needle from being deflected to the right and will insurethat the point of the needle will pass into the space between the needleguards 21 and 22. In Figure 4: of the drawings, in dotted lines, I haveshown the extreme lower position of the needle with the point betweenthese guards 21 and 22. As the looper moves forward, theguards 21 and 22will retain their governing control on the needle and hold the needle sothat thelooper will with certainty pass into the loop in the needlethread thrown out by the needle. The extreme forward end of the upperneedle guard at is slightly in advance of the point of the looper andthis operates to force the needle thread loop outwardly for the looperto enter. In initially setting the looper it is raised or lowered so asto prop erly position the same. Inasmuch as the needle guard 24 ismounted on the looper, it will be raised or lowered with the looper andconsequently maintain its position at one side of the looper.

It is obvious that minor changes in the details of construction andarrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit ofthe invention, as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is: i c

1. The combination of a needle, a looper cooperating therewith, spacedneedle guards beneath the looper for positioning the needle relative tothe looper, and an independent; nee-dle guard at the side of the looperand on the opposite side of the needle from the looper for insuringthat, the needle point will pass between the needle guards, beneath thelooper.

2. The combination with a feeding mechanism, oi a stitching mechanismincluding a needle, a looper movable in a plane parallel ith the line offeed and in the direction of feed while entering the needle thread loop,paced needle guards beneath the looper for positioning the needlerelative to the looper to insure the looper entering; the needle threadloop, and a needle guard at the side of the looper and on the oppositeside of the needle from the looper for insuring that the needle pointwill pass between the needle guards beneath the looper. v

3. The combination with a feeding mechanism, of a stitching mechanismincluding a needle, a looper movable in a plane parallel with the lineof feed and in the direction of feed while entering the needle threadloop, spaced needle guards beneath the looper for positioning the needlerelative to the looper to in ure the looper entering the needle threadloop, and needle guard at the side of the looper and on th opposite sideof the needle from the looper forinsuring that the. needle point willpass between the needle guards beneath the looper, said last namedneedle guard being mounted on the looper. I

t. Thecombination with a feeding mechanism, of a stitchin mechanismincluding a looper carrier, a looper mounted thereon,

tion of feedas it enterstheneedle thread and a needle guard carried bythe looper and located at one side thereof and on the side of the needleopposite the looper for insuring that the needle point will pass be- 1tween the needle guards on the looper ear- 10 .rier and beneath thelooper.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in the presence of twoWitnesses.

JOHN E. CHALMAN.

Witnesses C. MCNEIL, A B; GLOTHIER.

